Quality of Life

Pancreas transplantation uniquely offers patients with insulin-dependent diabetes (IDDM) the opportunity for prolonged normal glucose control. Advancements in the surgical and medical care of pancreas transplant (PTx) recipients led to remarkable improvements in patient and graft survival rates. This review focuses on the studies examining the changes in quality of life (QOL) after PTx. Initially, the various instruments used to assess both global and disease-specific QOL will be reviewed. As the majority of PTx are performed simultaneously with a kidney transplant (SPK), most of the available literature focuses on this population. Recent studies continue to support the view that SPK improves most aspects of QOL including general health and vitality, physical and mental health functions, social functioning, and diabetes-related issues. SPK also provides additive QOL benefits compared to kidney transplant (KTx) alone. SPK QOL benefits not only come in the year after the transplant but are maintained and increase in the years to follow. The few QOL studies in pancreas after kidney transplant (PAK) and pancreas transplant alone (PTA) recipients demonstrate that QOL improves posttransplant. A common theme is that loss of graft function results in a marked reduction in QOL. Fortunately, graft loss is becoming less frequent in the recent era.